I play around 60% of my action each week in “cash games.” Cash games refer to any contest in which roughly 50% of the field gets paid out, such as head-to-head, double up or 50/50. I try to get as much head-to-head action as I can every week and then supplement that with other cash games. I make one cash lineup for DraftKings and one for FanDuel.
Each week, I’ll review my cash-game lineups in this space. Sometimes I’ll lose, but hopefully I’ll win more often. Either way, I’ll post it here and give you my thought process.
This was an uncomfortable slate because we really lacked viable cheap options at WR. I did not want to use a WR spot on Kalif Raymond ($3600) or Dontayvion Wicks ($4300), making things very tight elsewhere.
Note: Unless stated otherwise, the discussion below is about DraftKings.
MY MUST PLAYS
* Justin Jefferson (hamstring) was out and the Dolphins have one of the worst secondaries in the NFL. They were also playing in a dome. So even though I certainly had concerns over the play of Kyler Murray over the last 13 months, I considered Jordan Addison a must here at just $5300. This was the best spot of his entire career, and he was at his usual cost.
MY WANT PLAYS
* I knew I would have to save money at QB. The cheap options I considered were Trevor Lawrence ($5900), Jacoby Brissett ($5000) and Tyson Bagent ($4800).
The last 2v2 I looked at was an important one: Lawrence and Garrett Wilson vs. Brissett (or Bagent) and Puka Nacua. I really, really wanted to play Puka. Talked about why on Last-Minute Livestream: The aggregated reporting, tweets, and headlines about his injury were simply overblown. The Rams never said he’d be limited – in fact, reports from Adam Schefter and Jay Glazer Sunday morning said Puka would not be limited by the injury.
So we had a healthy Puka with the greatest WR kingmaker ever playing in the Rams offense. Or for just $700 less, Wilson with Geno Smith in the Jets offense.
I just got too locked onto the QB spot, which is where historically I am most fine paying down. It’s the most predictable position, and one that isn’t impacted by opportunity – Brissett or Bagent is going to get roughly the same amount of dropbacks (if not more) than Lawrence.
* Given the way the slate was priced, it was really hard to get away from TJ Hockenson. I would’ve loved to find more upside with Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, George Kittle, or even Kenyon Sadiq, but the ability to spend just $3300 on a tight end we could project for a ton of routes against the Dolphins was huge.
I did lightly consider Tyler Higbee once Colby Parkinson joined Terrance Ferguson on the inactive list. But the matchup for Hockenson was just so much better.
* Regular readers know I’m typically playing the cheapest viable defense. This week, it was the Rams D/ST ($2600) against an Eagles offense that hasn’t been good since 2024. They were also playing without starting RT Lane Johnson (personal) and backup RT Fred Johnson (knee). Elite guard Landon Dickerson (knee) was also out again.
* Parker Washington ($6500) was a decent bit underpriced relative to the outrageous weekly target shares he’s earned going all the way back to last season. This was also expected to be one of the week’s best game environments, even though Thorman highlighted the potential slow pace in his column. I didn’t think Washington was a must because there were plenty of other strong WR plays in this range, but it was close.
* I thought there were six strong RB plays for cash: Derrick Henry, Kenneth Walker, Christian McCaffrey, Chase Brown, Aaron Jones, and Jeremiyah Love.
The one I felt strongest about was McCaffrey. Yes he was facing the Broncos defense, but his role at $7700 is just too strong for cash. Especially given all the 49ers’ WR injuries, CMC’s pass-catching and goal-line is what I want to play in cash.
After that, it was tough. Given I didn’t want to punt a WR spot, I couldn’t fit Kenneth Walker or Derrick Henry. So it came down to two of Brown, Jones, and Love. In this lineup, I only had room for Brown and Love which was fine by me. Brown has a strong pass-catching role for the Bengals and had serious TD equity in a great game environment. Love was ascending ahead of Tyler Allgeier, is an elite talent, and was facing the Giants.
Week 4 Results
Not really sure what to say on the 2v2 I described at the top of “My Want Plays.” I pride myself on seeing these news spots like Puka Nacua’s outlook better than the field. I went on auto-pilot and just locked onto Trevor Lawrence too hard. Other than that, I am fine with what I played. But when the edges get thin in tight slates like this, one decision can ruin the whole week. It is nice to be able to hedge some across sites: Aaron Jones and Kenneth Walker on FD, Christian McCaffrey and Chase Brown on DK, for example.
YEAR-TO-DATE RESULTS
Week 1 DraftKings: 159.94 points, won 82.2% of head-to-heads
Week 2 Draftkings: 154.76 points, won 81.1% of head-to-heads
Week 3 DraftKings: 163.30 points, won 73.9% of head-to-heads
Week 4 DraftKings: 104.38 points, won 41.1% of head-to-heads
Week 1 FanDuel: Did not play due to site functionality
Week 2 FanDuel: 125.86 points, won 66.7% of head-to-heads
Week 3 FanDuel: 140.36 points, won 82.6% of head-to-heads
Week 4 FanDuel: 137.68 points, won 78.9% of head-to-heads
* Note: Win percentages do not include ties.
